Farfaria!

Have you ever heard of a reading app called Farfaria?  I was given the opportunity last month to try it out and review it.  What an amazing opportunity!!!  You can check out information from Farfaria here.  I have used various reading apps on my iPad, but this is my absolute favorite!  For the next 10 days, you can get Farfaria at a discounted price on Educents!  Click here to get a year subscription for 50% off!!

I have two kids at home, a 4 and 8 year old.  Both fell in love with this app!  Both my kids love reading, but tie it in with the iPad and they think they are playing games. 

 

Farfaria is an app that allows kids to read hundreds of books in various ways.  There are over 900 books available (right now) for kids to read and 5 new books are added each week.

Books can be read in 3 ways: Auto Play, Read to Me, and Read Myself.  This allows kids of every ability to be successful and enjoy the books.  The "Auto Play" feature reads and turns the pages of the books automatically.  This is great for younger children, or when a child just wants to have a story read to them.

 The "Read to Me" feature highlights each word as the narrator reads it aloud.  The child must turn the page of the book to continue the story.

 The "Read Myself" feature is great for kids to read the story independently. 

Each book is given a reading level with a badge on the bottom right of the cover.  You can click on the badge to see more information about the reading level.  This helps you determine exactly which books your child should be reading independently.

 

Kids are able to determine which books they can read easily and which will be more challenging.  It is great for older children to self-monitor the difficulty of the book they choose.

My kids especially like the "Favorites" feature.  When you save a book to "Favorites" it downloads the title to your device.  This book is then available when you are offline.

When kids "Eplore" Farfaria, they can entire different lands.  Each island is named for the type of books they will encounter there.  The graphics for the lands are whimsical and inviting.  Each of my kids had their definite favorite!

They choose the land that they would like to visit,

click enter, 

 and explore the books!

The books are so engaging and there is something for everyone!  My little mini-me loved the sharks.  We both have a minor obsession with all things SHARK!

After reading, kids can even design their own reading badge!  They can take their own picture and insert it into the reading badge that they choose.  It adds another little bit of fun to the reading process!

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to try out the Farfaria app with my children.  It is an amazing app to keep any kids reading.  I used this at home, but it would also be invaluable in the classroom.  I can picture the kids lining up to have a chance to read with Farfaria!!!  Thank you Farfaria for giving my kids another way to love reading!

You can get Farfaria for 50% off from Educents!  Not a member yet?  Sign up here and get $10 credit to spend however you want!!  I LOVE Educents :)    

Pearly Whites!!

I shared some fun activities over at The Primary Pack!  You can learn how to make a model of a mouth out of a paper plate & marshmallows or use play dough & beans!!  Check out the post here.

Jenn from Crayons & Cuties in Kindergarten shared one of her favorite teeth activities with me.  Her class uses paint and toothbrushes to "clean" yellow teeth.  I LOVED this idea and had to recreate it!  I made a printable of a mouth.  You can get it free on my blog. 

We read "I Know Why I Brush My Teeth", by Kate Rowan.  This book has great information and is accompanied by kid-friendly illustrations.  After reading about plaque and the importance of brushing your teeth, I had the kids use yellow highlighters to add plaque to their teeth. 

Then, they used the toothbrushes and white paint to "brush the teeth clean"!

  It was definitely a hit!

You can get a copy of the teeth printable that I used here.  I would love to know what your kids think about it!  Check out more hands on activities for exploring teeth here.

 I've linked up with Share It Saturday, where you can find all things kid-related!!

Pulling Teeth!

Tomorrow is my day to share on The Primary Pack and I wanted to share some dental health fun!  There are tons of easy, hands on activities to explore teeth.  Here is a sneak peak!

Today, I wanted to share my newest play dough pack.  It may be my favorite yet!  There are so many ways to use teeth, toothbrushes, and tongs to bring math concepts to life. 

 Use manipulatives to represent different math concepts.

Here are a few of the different manipulatives that we used to represent teeth.

Students can choose a card and use manipulatives to represent a numerals,

 the amount on a ten frame, the amount of tally marks,

and to represent a subtraction equation.

You can also use a dry erase marker to draw the total number of germs on the tooth.

 Students will then use an old toothbrush to "brush away" the germs.

 It is a great way to visually and physically demonstrate subtraction.

 Students will then identify the number of germs that are left on the tooth.

Students can also use the mats to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence.

You can check out my dental health packs here.